WEST LAFAYETTE, IND.: The University of Akron women’s basketball team opened their first ever NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship game hitting on 1-of-7 of their first shots against Purdue Boilermakers, helping them to take an 20-2 lead.

Although the Zips dashed back at one point to cut the lead to 10, they couldn’t get over that substantial hump and lost to Purdue 84-55 ending a memorable season.

The University of Akron women’s basketball team doesn’t appear to be getting wrapped in the hype of playing in their first NCAA Tournament.

After winning the Mid-American Conference Tournament last week, seniors Rachel Tecca, Hanna Luburgh and Kacie Cassell were asked why they took a chance on playing for the Zips. The simple answer: bigger colleges passed them over. They were asked if this is a chance for them to prove themselves and did it offer more motivation in taking on a Big Ten opponent such as Purdue.

The University of Akron women’s team will go to West Lafayette, Ind., to play the Purdue Boilermakers as the Zips make their debut in the NCAA Tournament, it was announced Monday. The game is at 1:30 p.m. Saturday.

They were forced to play a waiting game as ESPN2 went deep into its broadcast before revealing UA, a No. 13 seed who will play the fourth seed Big Ten team.

The University of Akron women’s basketball team needed to play Central Michigan’s game to get them to play theirs.

Without Mid-American Conference Player of the Year Crystal Bradford, the Chippewas’ high-octane offense turned into something far more deliberate, calculating and pedestrian, allowing the Zips to run away with a 85-69 victory to make it to the tournament finals for the second consecutive year.

CLEVELAND: By now it’s cliché that games between the University of Akron men’s basketball team and Ohio University are a cliché.

However, some clichés remain relevant and fun, including the 83-77 win by the Zips against the Bobcats in the Mid-American Conference Tournament Thursday night at Quicken Loans Arena which remained in question until late in the game .